Improvement in carpet-fasteners



B. MARTIGNONI.

Carpet-Fastener.

No. 209,493. Patented Oct. 29,1878.

ATTEST:

'INVENTOR W W m E Mix . Q N-FETERS, PNOYO-LWHOGPAPHER, WASHINGTON. D C.

spectively, front and rear elevations of the pressed to its lowest position. In Figs. 3, 4,

- face, as shown, adapted to fit and receive the ited amount'bf vertical play or-movement,

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIoE.

BENJAMIN MARTIGNONI, OF WESTFIELD, NEW YORK.

lM PROVEMENT IN CARPET- FASTENERS.

. Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 209,493, dated October 29, 1878; application filed May 1,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN MARTIGNO- NI, of the town of Westfield, in the county of Chautauqua and State of New York, have invented certain Improvements in Carpet-Fastenings, of which the following is a specification:

This invention relates to that class of fastenin gs which may be permanently fixed to the fioor or base-board of the room.

It consists, essentially, in a suitable claw or series of claws adapted to hold the carpet, provided with one or more vertical sliding surfaces, arranged to play in a guide-piece rigidly attached to the floor or base-board, and to be held fast by some suitable means when its claws or' teeth have been pressed down into the margin of the carpet.

It also consists in various features of construction and novel combinations, which will be more fully hereinafter set forth.

In the drawings I have shown the preferred construction of my invention.

Figure 1 is a general plan view, showing the fastenings applied. Figs. 2 and 3 are, re-

fastening. Fig. 4 is a perspective view, showing the parts in detail. Figs. 5 and 6 are, respectively, a side elevation and a vertical section of the fastening. Fig. 7 shows a modification of the fastening, which adapts it to secure stair-rods, &c.

In Figs. 2 and 5 the claw is shown deand 6 it is represented as lifted to its fullest extent.

Let A represent the base-board -of a room; B, the floor, and G the carpet. D is a plate, adapted to be affixed to the base-board by screws to a, or by other means; or it may, by a slight change of form, be adapted to be attached to the floor, if desired. This plate has a groove or slideway, preferably in its rear vertically-sliding portion of a claw, E, the lower end of which is provided with teeth or serrations c 0. This claw should have a limsufficient to lift the teeth 0 0 clear of the thickest carpet, and this movement may be effected bymeans of an eccentric or crank, F, arranged to rotate in a hole, d, inthe plate D, while its posterior portion 0 engages a laterally-elongated slot, g, in the sliding claw. The protruding head of the eccentric-journal may be I nicked to receive a screwdriver.

By turning the screw-driver to the right the claw E is driven down, and the teeth a 0 pass through the carpet to the floor. If the parts are properly arranged and fixed in position the points will have reached the floor at about the time the eccentric has reached the extremity of its downward stroke and is on the center, so to speak. This, together with a moderate degree of friction between the parts, will keep the teeth firmly pressed into the carpet until released by lifting the teeth with a backward turn of the screw-driver.

In lieu of the eccentric device 3' ust described, a screw might be used to press against the sliding claw and keep it engaged.

I have shown the claw-piece E as of only sufficient width to secure the carpet at one point; but, if preferred, its base-or claw portion may be extended laterally in inverted T shape, in order to give a greater surface for holding the carpet. Or, in case it is desired to clamp a considerable portion of the edge of the carpet simultaneously, the claw portion of the piece E may be extended to form along strip, and be provided with two or more vertically-projecting shanks or sliding surfaces, working in a corresponding number of fixed plates, D.

I have shown the plate D as adapted to be fixed to the base-board or wall of the room; but, if necessary or preferable to fix it to the fioor instead, it may be made in the form of a vertical socket, and be sunk into a mortise in the fioor. In this case the fastening device F must be so modified in position or arrangement as to admit of being operated from above, and the shank portion of the claw must extend downward into the socket of the plate D.

The teeth 0 c are shown with vertical rear faces and sloped conical anterior faces, so that the carpet may be pushed back under them, but will not so readily escape from their hold.

In some cases the teeth 0 0 may be omitted entirely, and the carpet be held by being clamped between the claw-piece and the floor.

sition when up or down,

Without material alteration, my device may be adapted. to fastening stair-rods, picturerods, curtain-rods, 850. In the modification, Fig. 7, the claw is shown as devoid of teeth and curved to embrace a rod.

I claim as my invention- 1. In a carpet-fastening, the combination of a plate adapted to be fixed to the base-board, wall, or floor, and provided with vertical slideways, a sliding claw adapted to play up and down in the fixed plate, and constructed to bite into or clamp the carpet, and suitable mechanism attached to the fixed plate whereby the claw may be maintained rigidly in poas desired, substantially as herein set forth.

2. The combination of the structed and adapted to be fixed to the wall or base-board, so as to leave a slideway behind plate D, 0011- it, the sliding claw E, arranged to play up and down in the fixedplate, and provided with BENJ. MARTIGNONI.

Witnesses:

HENRY J. MINtroN, J. A. SKINNER. 

